The Great
Temple contains eclectic exquisite art and architecture from the Nabataean
period and demonstrates that the values of the Nabataeans of Petra during
this period who felt that aesthetic decoration of structures with frescos
and architectural sculpture was sufficiently significant on which to expend
time, money and energy. This blending of different cultures is seen in
this palatial building and its precinct with the use of elephant heads,
frescos, elegantly carved pilasters and capitals. There is a high level
of skill and technology possessed by her builders as well as the high
level of organized government that would be needed to plan the building
of this monumental structure. The Great Temple is one of the key sites
in the Nabataean Petra, and it is a significant site for our knowledge
of the development of Petra. The lives of the Nabataeans were influenced
by a unique blend of cultures. The study of the Great Temple is essential
to the understanding of many different aspects of the archaeology of Petra.
Such an interpretation when considered in relation to what is known about
other Nabataean sites can effectively enrich the web of knowledge we possess
regarding both Petra and the people whose lives ultimately created it.
Each of our seasons of excavation has proved to be provocative and propitious
as many questions were raised and many extraordinary artifacts were recovered.

The
Great Temple represents one of the major archaeological and architectural
components of central Petra. Located to the south of the Colonnaded Street
and southeast of the Temenos Gate, this 75602
m precinct is comprised of a Propylaeum (monumental entryway), a Lower
Temenos, and monumental east and west Stairways which in turn lead to
the Upper Temenos — the sacred enclosure for the Temple proper.

The
Petra Great Temple was first explored by R. E. Brünnow and A. von
Domaszewski in the 1890s; but it was W. Bachmann, in his 1921 revision
of the Petra city plan, who postulated the existence of a "Great
Temple." No structures were evident before the Brown University 1993
excavations under the direction of Martha Sharp Joukowsky, and the precinct
which is constructed on an artificial terrace was littered with carved
architectural fragments toppled by one of the earthquakes which rocked
the site.

In
the Lower Temenos are triple colonnades on the east and west with a total
of 96 to 120 columns! These lead into east and west semi-circular buttressed
Exedrae. Here in the Lower Temenos, large, white hexagonal pavers were
positioned above an extensive subterranean canalization system which has
been traced from the Temple Forecourt under the Lower Temenos, the

Aerial photograph
of the Great Temple, looking South Looking south from the Lower Temenos
at the temple

Propylaeum,
and the Colonnaded Street to the Wadi Musa. Discovered near the West Exedra
was a capital decorated with Asian elephant-heads; in addition to the
thousands of architectural fragments, there are coins, limestone facial
frieze elements, lamps, Roman glass, and ceramics which include figurines,
Nabataean bowls, small cups, and juglets. Elaborate floral friezes and
acanthus-laden limestone capitals suggest the temple was constructed in
the beginning of the last quarter of the first century BCE by the Nabataeans
who combined their native traditions with the classical spirit. The structure
was enlarged later in the Nabataean period in the first century CE. The
Great Temple was in use until some point in the fifth century CE, the
Byzantine period.

The
Great Temple had its columns and walls red-and-white-stuccoed which must
have had a dramatic impact when set against its rose-red environment.
It is tetrastyle in antis (four columns at the front) with widely-spaced
(ca. seven meters, 21 ft.) central columns at the entrance, and two end
columns located about five meters (15 ft.) to the east and west, respectively.
Approximately 15 meters (45 ft.) in height, the porch columns plus the
triangular pediment and the entablature, hypothetically place its height
to a minimum of 19 meters (57 ft.).

Looking
south from the Lower Temenos at the Temple.

The
Great Temple measures 35 meters (105 ft.) east-west, and is some 42.5
meters (127.5 ft.) in length making it the largest freestanding structure
in Petra.The podium rests on a forecourt of hexagonal pavers; a stairway
approaches a broad deep pronaos (entry), which in turn leads into side
corridors that access a 550-630 seat bouleuterion (council chamber), theatron/
odeum discovered in 1997. The Pronaos entry is marked by two columns which
are the same diameter (1.50 meters, 4.5 ft.) as those at the temple entrance,
but are larger than either the eight flanking the cella walls or the six
at the temple rear which have diameters of 1.20 meters (3.6 ft.). In the
interior north are massive anta walls resting on a finely carved attic
bases. To the south is a two-or-three-storied complex dominated by a large,
central vaulted arch and twin stepped arched passages leading to paved
platforms, plus a series of steps which accessed the rear of the

bouleuterion,
plus a series of steps which access the temple corridors and exit. There
are exterior paved walkways on the temple east and west, where sculpted
facial fragments and fine